Skipping meals creates two REALLY big problems.

Problem #1 is that each and every time you skip a meal, you are murdering your metabolism. In the short term you’ll lose a few pounds by skipping meals and this might make you feel good for a few days.  However, you’re killing your ability to be fit and lean and ultimately it will catch up to you.

Before I figured this concept out, I would skip meals all the time. For me, it was an addiction. I wanted to see lower numbers on the scale and skipping meals made it easy. The problem is that your metabolism gets lower and lower until it’s impossible to stay lean. I killed my metabolism this way. During one spell I figured out that I would gain fat (and weight) by eating only 2100 calories per day, even though I’m a muscular guy that weighs close to 200 pounds. Trust me, that’s REALLY messed up! A person of my size should be able to easily eat 3000 calories per day without putting on fat (I can now eat more than this without putting on fat).

Problem #2 with skipping meals is that your body will seriously fight against it by creating insane cravings. I would starve myself and overeat – often in the same day. This might not seem possible but trust me, it is and it’s one of the most damaging things you can do to yourself. People that do this usually start off by skipping breakfast. I did this often and it was usually because I was trying to eat extremely low calories. It would of course catch up to me later in the day and I would often eat an obscene amount of calories. I couldn’t control the cravings that my body would create. Now that I understand what happens physiologically when I don’t eat, it seems almost ridiculous that this was once my lifestyle. Some people of course create the same effect by skipping lunch or dinner.

The good news is that this pitfall is easy to reverse. You can make your metabolism CRANK by eating healthy meals that consist of lean proteins, whole grains, and fibrous vegetables. Testing on my own body indicates that my metabolism is now cranking out over 1,000 calories more than it used to and I owe this to a healthy diet and exercise. I don’t go more than a few hours without eating something, even if that something is a few slices of lean turkey and some vegetables. Eating the right foods regularly will also help you to control your appetite.

2. We eat low quality foods.

This one is especially dangerous for those of us that live in the United States. We want our food to be fast and cheap and manufacturers are getting better and better at giving us exactly what we want. The problem is that fast and cheap foods are REALLY easy for our bodies to break down and this can cause all kinds of problems.

At one time, I could gain fat more quickly than almost anyone I know and the type of food I would eat was a huge contributing factor. I would start most of my days by skipping breakfast (see #1), thinking that I was going to eat a lot less calories than usual that day. By the end of the day, I would almost always end up in a fast food drive-thru, ordering low calorie food and then binging. If you do this, you can put on fat every single day. It beats down your metabolism and then overwhelms your body with low quality calories.

Higher quality food is much harder for our bodies to break down and therefore leaves us more satisfied (and less likely to eat more later in the day).

A few months ago I visited the United Kingdom and Ireland. I was shocked at how thin almost everyone was there. After I had been there for a few days, however, it was easy to see why. Food in the UK and Ireland is extremely fresh. When you order a side of veggies in a UK restaurant, they look like they were just picked from the garden outside. Bread in the UK is the most mega-ultra-grain bread I’ve ever seen. There is no doubt that the difference in food is what keeps the people over there thin.

We can ALL improve the quality of food that we eat, and when we do, we raise our metabolisms and stay more satisfied throughout the day. We can eat whole wheat grains instead of white ones, ditch the white rice, and we can avoid many of the sugars and fats that we stuff into our diets. We can eat fresh vegetables and we can even eat organic foods if we want to take this concept to the next level.

When you raise the quality level of the food you eat, it will allow you to eat MORE food without gaining fat. High quality foods will raise your metabolism and again, are harder for our bodies to break down.

3. High fructose corn syrup.

HFCS is the favorite sweetener of U.S. based food manufacturers, in fact we as Americans consume more calories from HFCS than from any other food (if you want to really call it a food).

The problem with HFCS is that it’s extremely addictive and causes more weight gain than sugar (believe it, it’s true). Elite fitness professionals have of course known this for years and fortunately, studies have been happening that prove this to be true. Recently, a team at Princeton discovered that HFCS causes more weight gain than other sweeteners, especially around the mid-section.

Interestingly, in the 40 years that HFCS has been used to sweeten foods in the U.S., the obesity rate has risen from 15% to a shocking 33%. It’s difficult of course to blame anything on a single cause, however, people who stop eating foods with HFCS almost ALWAYS gain a lot more control of their diets, weight, and body fat.

You of course don’t have to believe research to understand the addictive nature of HFCS. Eat 100 grams each day for a week and then try to stop. Trust me, it won’t be easy.

Step one in the process of getting off of HCFS is to replace it with table sugar. Table sugar is significantly less addictive. This of course will generally mean that you will need to make your own treats, since HFCS is in almost everything nowadays. Ultimately, sugar isn’t a great food either but it’s much much better than HFCS.

4. We eat ultra refined carbs.

In reality, HFCS is but one of many refined carbs that we love to eat. We eat white bread, white rice, white tortillas, and sugars by the boat load and these foods are AWESOME at making us gain fat.

Refined carbs are extremely addictive for me and until I understood that fact my diet was always out of control. At one time, I thought that it was beyond impossible to stop eating sweets and many other foods. Switching to whole grains made eating right 100% easier, in fact most of my sugar cravings went away when I switched to whole grains.

These carbs cause our blood sugar levels to spike because they can be broken down easily by our digestive systems. Many of these foods can go from our mouths to our blood streams in 10 minutes. High blood sugar is of course toxic to our bodies so we release insulin to clear these carbs out. For the most part, our bodies turn those carbs directly into fat.

On top of all of that, many of our bodies are terrible at controlling the amount of insulin that is released during this process. Our bodies release too much and this causes our blood sugar levels to dip too low. Our bodies then think that we are starving (we need a certain level of blood sugar to function) so it creates insatiable cravings for more carbs (sugars and unrefined flours/rices). This is what we call carbohydrate addiction.

This of course can all be controlled if we stay away from refined carbs. Whole wheat breads and brown rice are much harder to shove into our blood streams. Small amounts of carbs trickle into our blood streams – it can take hours for this process to happen. This leaves us satisfied for longer periods of time and more importantly, our blood sugar levels don’t spike up.

5. We consume ridiculous amounts of fats.

Food manufacturers (restaurants especially) LOVE to load their foods with fats. They do this because fat tastes AWESOME. More fat will make almost any food taste better. Whether sweet or salty, foods will have more flavor with high amounts of fats. The problem with fat is its emptiness. Fat is extremely high in calories.

Many people eat thousands of calories of fat without knowing it. Many restaurant salads have more than 1500 calories because of high fat dressings, cheeses, sauces, and meats.

Fast food is especially dangerous when it comes to fat content. A Big Mac from Mcdonalds has 29 grams of fat and that’s a monstrous 260 calories from fat. Fat doesn’t take up much space in your stomach so you have to eat a lot of food to feel satisfied. The calories we can consume this way can be astronomical and when we consume more calories than our bodies need, we gain fat.

6. We are inactive

We gain fat when we consume more calories than our bodies need. Unfortunately, many of us are really inactive so our bodies don’t need many calories. Most people could make significant, positive changes to their bodies by walking for as little as 30 minutes per day. Walking of course uses calories in the short term and raises metabolism in the long term.

Weight training is of course a fantastic way to promote leanness for men and women. Lifting weights does a remarkable job at raising the amount of calories our bodies use during the day. A one hour lifting session each morning can raise your metabolic rate by as many as 1000 calories per day. Many women of course worry that lifting weights will make them appear bulky but in reality the effect is almost always the opposite. Women become leaner and therefore smaller when they train with weights.

Playing sports, hiking, and engaging in other activities will of course also help you to improve your fitness level by increasing your body’s calorie needs.

7. We get stressed

Food is comforting for many people and we’re often unaware that we turn to food when we get stressed. Usually this happens on the subconscious level. I personally turned to food for comfort for years without realizing it – this didn’t come to my attention until I started trying to keep track of how many calories I was eating on a daily basis.

After I started counting calories, I decided to try to get control of my binging and overeating. This all helped me to realize that I sometimes craved foods like brownies, cakes, doughnuts, and ice cream when I was stressed. I never consciously thought that these foods would make me feel less stress, I simply craved them when I was stressed – it happened subconsciously.

Truth be told, this still happens to me. A few weeks ago I had to give a presentation to a few hundred people and got pretty stressed out. I ended up eating 1100 calories worth of brownies in less than 20 minutes. This of course did the trick and helped me to feel better in the short term but most definitely caused me to gain fat. While I do mess up from time to time, I have learned how to control these binges and for the most part, avoid them. Understanding what happens to our fat levels when we binge can help us to want to avoid binging.

8. Depression

Like stress, depression can cause us to turn to food for comfort. For many of us, dealing with our emotional difficulties can help us to improve our bodies.

Exercise of course has also been proven to help with depression.

9. We age

Our metabolism slows down with age. This means that as we get older, our bodies don’t need as many calories. Eating the same number of calories as we did when we were younger can cause us to gain fat. However, this effect can be greatly helped by increasing our levels of activity. Go for walks and hikes. Learn how to play tennis. Play sports with your kids or grand kids.

Age is of course something that we cannot control. However, we have complete control over what we eat and over our level of activity.

Fortunately, our metabolisms aren’t going to drastically change overnight – it’s a gradual process. For most people, they gain fat with age mostly because they become more inactive with age, not because of the small drop in their metabolic rates.

10. Hormonal imbalances

There are MANY hormonal imbalances that can affect our fat levels. Here are a few of them:

1. Over-production of cortisol.
2. Under-production of testosterone (in men and women).
3. Under-production of thyroid hormone.
4. Over production of estrogen (in men and women).

Research shows that the ridiculous levels of hormones in our food supplies can really mess with the natural hormone levels in our bodies. This of course affects some people a lot more than others. This may cause your thyroid to under-produce thyroid hormone which would drastically stunt your metabolic rate. If your body doesn’t produce enough testosterone it may be extremely difficult to get lean.

Some of you may find out that you need to have some testing done by an endocrinologist to determine whether your hormone levels are within the normal ranges. If they aren’t, this could be causing you to gain fat.

11. Lack of understanding

Ultimately, we are responsible for gaining fat. Many people would argue that they simply don’t know how to stop gaining fat. I would argue that we can each learn how to control our bodies.

If we don’t understand how many calories we can eat without gaining weight, it’s going to be hard to not gain weight. If we don’t understand the triggers that cause us to overeat, it’s going to be hard to not overeat. If we don’t know which foods are extremely high in calories, it’s going to be really difficult to not eat too many calories. If we don’t understand how to raise our metabolisms, we will probably have low metabolisms.

In order to stop gaining fat and get lean, we first need to learn what it will require. We need to learn about our bodies, about food, and about activities that will promote leanness.

12. Genetics

Many people are of course genetically disadvantaged. For these people, gaining fat can happen quickly. There are a few different ways that people can be genetically disadvantaged:

1. They can have naturally slow metabolisms.
2. They can have overactive cravings for foods, causing them to overeat.
3. They can have a genetic disposition toward inactivity.

We have no control over the genetic makeup of our bodies. However, we can make changes that can help us to stay lean despite them. I for one gain fat very easily in fact there have been multiple occasions in my life where I have gained more than 10 pounds of pure fat in less than one month. If I kept that up it would be an amazing 120 pounds per year. I am not naturally lean – my genetic code tries to make me fat every day of my life. I have learned how to combat my genetics by learning about food and exercise and during that process, I have learned how to take advantage of the genetic advantages that I have.

I believe that almost every person can be lean. If you learn about how food and exercise affect your body, you can stop it from gaining fat and you can then help it to drop fat. It can be much easier than you think!

In the late 1970s, a group of extreme athletes participated in the ultimate test of fitness and endurance, The IRONMAN Triathlon Competition. From inauspicious beginnings, The IRONMAN is recognized worldwide today as the most extreme form of endurance competition.  The event is held annually on the island of Hawaii and consists of three phases run sequentially:  A 2.4 mile swim in open water; a 112 mile bike race; and a run of 26.2 miles (the marathon distance).  There are a number of classes of competition by sex, age groups, professional and amateur.  Just finishing The IRONMAN gives significant bragging rights and hero-points enough to last a lifetime.

The promoters and developers of IRONMAN produce IRONMAN Fitness Equipment for the North and South American markets and they have licensed the manufacture outside of the Western Hemisphere.  The three primary products are; treadmills, exercise bikes and elliptical exercise machines.

• Treadmills – Two models, 1911 and 1921, with respectively; 2.5 and 3 HP continuous electric motors, 10 and 12 mph top speeds.  Each has 13 exercise programs and handlebar controls for ease of operation.
• Exercise bikes – Eight models, 3 upright and 5 recumbent, all with a wide variety of resistance and features.
• Elliptical Exercise Machines – Five models, 1 with eight levels of resistance, 4 with sixteen levels.  The base model has 1 heart-rate control and 1 program, the other four have 4 HR controls and up to 12 custom programs

Though IRONMAN Fitness Equipment was developed for home use, they are of commercial quality with sturdy frames, decks, motors, controls and features.  Independent reviewers rate all IRONMAN equipment very highly.  Further information is available on their webpage or through any of a number of equipment distributors found online.

Much like the arm biceps, the hamstring benefits from a “curling” movement with moderate resistance, using pulleys or dumbbells.  Additionally, there are specific machines in many fitness centers that are designed for “thigh curls.”  Other hamstring curls may be executed using Swiss balls, benches or simply a supine position on a floor exercise mat.

• Swiss Ball Hamstring Exercise – lie prone with feet on the ball, elevate hips and bend legs at knee, rolling the ball towards your buttocks, hold for one second, the straighten legs while keeping butt elevated.  Repeat for ten or more reps.
• Hamstring Curls with Ankle Weights – strap on weights, stand erect, moving leg only from the knee down, raise foot until lower leg is at ninety degrees or more.  Lower and repeat for ten or more reps.
• Good Mornings – stand erect with a light barbell held at arms length.  Bend forward, keeping legs straight, and place the barbell against the floor.  Straighten and repeat for ten reps or more.
• Donkey Kicks – on hands and knees, straighten and raise one leg, then raise the leg as high as possible while clenching the buttocks.  Lower leg, but don’t touch the ground with foot or leg.  Repeat for ten or more reps.
• Hip Raises – supine on floor exercise mat, raise knees to 45 degree angle.  Thrust hips up as far as you can.  Lower butt and repeat then or more times.
• Bench Hip Raises – same as above, but begin with feet elevated on a bench.
• Hamstring Stretch – seated with legs together in front.  Bend forward and touch forehead to knees (or a close as you can get).  Straighten up, then repeat ten or more times.

Like any other muscle, the hamstrings should be warmed up before stretching them in order to avoid injury.  Cold muscles are injury prone if not warmed before strenuous stretching, so some light, high repetition exercise should be performed before beginning a hamstring routine.

Bodybuilders spend a lot of time exercising, the purpose of which is to tear down muscle tissue so that it will grow bigger when it recovers and heals.  The diet of a bodybuilder is very high in protein, the tissue building material in their diet.  While they rest and recover, the protein they ingest goes to work rebuilding the damaged muscle tissue.  With enough strenuous exercise and enough protein, the muscles grow.  It all sounds very simple . . . and it is, but the process may take many years of iron-pumping and proper nutrition, before the results are impressive.  Old timey bodybuilders often didn’t reach their peak of development until they were in their late thirties.

Enter the nutritionists.  Studies of how the body metabolizes proteins and carbohydrates resulted in a greater understanding of what an athlete should eat in order to maximize their performance.  Bodybuilders (definitely an extreme athletic endeavor) wanted to maximize their development as well as their performance.  Dietary supplement makers used their research labs to identify those natural substances that would provide athletes what they wanted.  Amino acids, the building blocks of protein, were isolated and synthesized and incorporated into supplements formulated to increase both performance and muscle size.  Protein sources were identified and categorized by how they were used by the human metabolism.  Protein supplementation is designed to facilitate growth, recovery and bodily functions.

• Whey Protein – milk-based whey is a source of essential amino acids.  Whey helps produce greater muscle mass and is absorbed rapidly by the system.  Taken immediately after a workout.
• Soy Protein – Soy is the only vegetable source of a complete protein.  It is more slowly absorbed.
• Casein – aids in muscle recovery and basic body functions.  Very slow absorption, so it is best taken at bedtime.

Other supplements were developed that also aided bodybuilders in achieving their goals.

• Creatine Monohydrate – a performance enhancer that stimulates the production of testosterone.  Should be cycled.
• Nitric Oxide (NO) – stimulates muscle recovery, aids circulation.
• Human Growth Hormone (HGH) – after being vilified initially, HGH is now recognized as an important part of many fitness and health programs.  Studies have shown that as the body ages it produces less HGH.  Supplemental HGH usage not only will slow the aging process, but it will even reverse it.  HGH will stimulate muscle growth.

It all comes back to protein, how the body uses it, how we get it and how it may be supplemented in the diet.  Any active bodybuilder or other athlete should be getting between one and two grams of protein per pound per day.  A 180 pound athlete should be consuming between 180 and 360 grams of protein throughout the day.  This requires supplementation in most properly balanced diets.

Right after the New Year the business booms at fitness clubs, bodybuilding gyms, health spas and the YMCA.  The reason is New Years Resolutions.  It seems that nearly everyone, male and female, makes a commitment to get into better shape, so they flock to the venues with all those weights, machines, exercise bikes, treadmills and floor exercise areas.  Their resolve lasts about three months, if that.  A few, however, make a serious commitment to themselves and resolve to stick with the program.  Health club owners make their biggest advertising and promotional push during the holiday season, counting on the first three months making their years revenues.

Those who stick with the program do so because many of them are lucky enough to have the personal initiative and true desire to create a better body.  If they are really lucky, they connect with someone to motivate them; a personal trainer, a club owner who will work with them or a workout partner to keep them on track.  They embark upon a basic fitness program to prepare for the real work to come.  A complete body workout program will tone and condition all of the major muscle groups in the body:  Chest, Shoulders, Back, Arms, Waist, Thighs and Calves.

• Chest – Bench Press, Incline Bench Press, Decline Bench Press, Dumbbell or Pec-Deck Flies, Push-ups.
• Shoulders – Military Press, Upright Rowing, Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, Bent-over Lateral Raises, Shrugs.
• Back – Lat Machine Pull-downs, Bent-over Rowing, Seated Rowing, Chin-ups, Front-levers.
• Arms – Bicep Curls, Dumbbell Curls, Three-Way Curls (21 Count Curls), Preacher Bench Curls, Triceps Press Downs, Close Grip Triceps Presses, Wall Push-ups, French Presses.
• Waist – Crunches, Leg Raises, Incline Crunches, Decline Leg Raises.
• Thighs – Squats, Leg Extensions, Hack Squats, Abductor-Adductor Extensions, Calf Raises, Lunges.

After a high degree of fitness is achieved, specialized exercises may be added to work to blitz the muscles that are slower to respond.  Advanced students should focus on one major muscle group per workout, with the waist being exercised every day.

Diet is a critical part of every bodybuilding program.  A balanced diet, high in protein with some unrefined carbohydrates is in order.  Alcohol and caffeine should be avoided.

Protein powders and other supplements can be very beneficial, particularly those that will promote greater assimilation of nutrients and those that provide greater energy.

If you want sexy legs, you need to eat a healthy diet, do cardio and train with weights. Any kind of exercise burns fat and calories, and it will tone and shape your body. Here is a list of leg exercises that you can do.

Squats

One of the best leg exercises is the squat. You can do squats on a smith machine, hack squat machine, or by using your body weight. In addition, you can do squats with dumbells, or by holding a barbell on your upper back and shoulders. Squats are excellent for toning the lower body, leaning out and adding muscle. Furthermore, you can do ball squats by holding a fitness ball. Fitness balls come in many shapes and sizes. If you use a heavier ball, you will get a better workout.

Leg Press

You can work your legs into shape by using the leg press machine. This piece of leg exercise equipment works the thighs, quads, buttocks, calves and hamstring muscles. You can use different foot positions, to target different muscles.

Abductor/Adductor Machines

You can slim down and do leg exercises with the adductor/abductor machines. These machines are easy to use, and they work the legs and thighs. Do them with cardio and other weight training exercises, and you will look great.

Indoor Cycling

Indoor cycling classes simulate an outdoor bicycle ride. In addition, you can exercise on an indoor cycling bike at home. Indoor cycling burns over 500 calories in one session, and it is excellent for the lower body. Please note that you can purchase padded shorts, gloves or a gel seat to enhance your ride. Many people get sore when they exercise on an indoor cycling bike, so you will be comfortable with these accessories.

Leg Lifts

You can do leg lifts at home with or without dumbells. You should do high repetitions if you want to see great results. If you do enough sets and repetitions, you will feel the burning and the muscles working.

Stepmill Machines

The stepmill is excellent for toning the lower body. Exercising on a stepmill is similar to walking on an escalator. It works the quads, hamstrings, calves, thighs and buttocks and it burns many calories.

Walking

Walking is possibly the most basic leg exercise.  It is easy to do and it burns fat and calories. You can speed walk through the park or on a treadmill. If you want to boost your workouts, raise the incline and you will get a better workout.

Hiking

Hiking is a wonderful exercise for the lower body. Plus, it’s fun and an inexpensive workout. If you want to increase the difficulty of your hike, you can wear a heavy backpack. You will burn more calories and see amazing results. You should hike a few times a week, if you want to see a change in your body.

• Lowers blood pressure
• Decreases body fat
• Great for the heart
• Prolongs life
• Helps prevent back injuries
• Reduces stress

Muscle fitness, or muscle tone is achieved several ways. Yoga is a wonderful discipline for stretching muscles, increasing circulation and overall body toning. Aerobic workouts are also a great way to gain muscle fitness. Today’s aerobics are far more exciting than those of ten years ago. Dance aerobics includes salsa, line dance, jazz and even belly dance. For a more vigorous workout there’s step aerobics, which involves a platform used for stepping up and down.

The best way to achieve muscle fitness, however, is using free weights or specific pieces of equipment in a gym. The beauty of free weights or equipment is it enables you to better target the specific muscle groups you’d like to work. When using free weights, start with a light weight and do two sets of about ten reps each. As your muscles strengthen, increase the weight and add another set of reps. Keep your lifting motion very disciplined, to avoid injury and to get the greatest benefit from your workout.

If you belong to a gym, locate the machine that targets the muscle group you’d like to work on. Set the machine’s resistance at low to begin with. Follow the instructions provided on the machine and be sure to maintain correct posture and position. It won’t take long for your muscles to respond, and for your body to achieve a level of fitness you’ll be proud of.

As always, proper diet is paramount in gaining and keeping muscle fitness. Here are a few simple rules to follow:

• Eat fewer carbohydrates
• Eat less fat
• Drink at least eight cups of water each day
• Keep your calorie level in check

By sticking to this easy plan, your body will shed unwanted layers of fat. In so doing, your muscles will gain definition, and take on a more sculpted look. You’ll be able to admire the effects of all your efforts!

Major Chest Muscles

There are two major chest muscles.  These are the pectoralis major and minor.  The pectoralis major is located at the front of the ribcage and is responsible for most of the broad movements across and along the chest.  The pectoralis minor is located behind the pectoralis major.  It performs many of the same functions and provides support for the major pecs.  The pectoralis minor also moves the shoulder forward.

Good Chest Exercises

These basic exercises will help you develop solid chest muscles, which also serve to increase strength and endurance.

•Barbell Bench Press

The barbell bench-press of probably the single best chest exercise.  It is also one of the most fundamental whole body exercises that you do.  An average bench press involves laying flat on a bench with a barbell and some weight on each side.  You then lower the bar to a point right above you nipples and explosively push the weight off your chest.  There are many variations on the bench press and this exercise can be tailored to your specific needs.

•Flat Dumbbell Flies

In order to perform this exercise you must lie flat on a bench with a pair of light dumbbells.  With the weights parallel above your chest, lower your arms out to your sides.  This exercise targets a different area of the chest in a unique way, and is one of the best chest exercises to compliment and build on the barbell bench press.

•Push-Ups

Push-ups are one of the most basic, yet effective, exercises for chest muscles that you can do.  You lay flat on the floor, toes pointed, hands nearly shoulder width apart and push your body off the ground.  There are a number of ways to perform push-ups, including one-armed push-ups, clapping push-ups, and incline push-ups among many others.

By performing these chest exercises, you will be stronger, faster, have more endurance, and have a more attractive body.

Order today using our 100% secure server and get it at the lowest prices in the world with our fast, inexpensive 2 – 3 day shipping! NOBODY beats our overall price!